‘Good news’: Nixing Canadian experience rule spells opportunity for foreign engineers in Ontario

"It is good news, " Zaitsev said in an interview. "It helps to get a job in Canada, an engineering job.” 

Dmytro Zaitsev had more than a decade of experience working as an electrical and solar engineer in Ukraine before he fled the war in that country for Ottawa.

But those years of work still weren’t enough for him to apply for a professional engineering licence in Ontario because he lacked Canadian work experience.

The situation meant Zaitsev – who arrived in Canada in October – had to work entry level jobs as a solar panel installer and electrician to support his wife and child.

A recent change in regulations, however, mean Zaitsev and other internationally trained engineers no longer require Canadian work experience to be licensed in the province.

“It is good news, ” Zaitsev said in an interview. “It helps to get a job in Canada, an engineering job.”

Under previous rules, one year of Canadian work experience in engineering was required to apply for a licence in Ontario. Immigrant engineers had to work for a year under the supervision of a licensed Canadian engineer to gain that experience.

But that was a challenging requirement, Zaitsev said.

“How can I get Canadian experience, if I can’t work in Canada?” he said.